Ricardo René Larémont

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Terrorism and Counterterrorism in the Sahel

ABSTRACT This article describes the genesis and development of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. It discusses AQIMs strategic objectives, leadership, tactical operations, and financing as well as the destabilizing effects of Libyas new civil war in the region. After discussing these issues, various counterterrorism programs in Mali will be examined because they may provide a possible basis for implementing transnational counterterrorism approaches within the region.

Moroccan Youth Go Sufi

After the 2003 Casablanca bombings, the Government of Morocco modified its definition of Moroccan Islam to include specifically Sufism, which in its estimate would provide a moderate alternative to militant Islam. This article examines the origins, implications, and consequences of the adoption of this policy. Within this article the authors also discuss the governments adoption and encouragement of the Qadiriyya Boutchichiyya Sufi order as an alternative to other movements and parties—including the Adl wal Ihsan Sufi movement and the Parti pour la Justice et la Démocratie (Justice and Development Party)—which may articulate more critical views of the Moroccan monarchy.

Sufism, Salafism and state policy towards religion in Algeria: a survey of Algerian youth

During the summer of 2011, the University of Algiers and Binghamton University undertook a public opinion survey of youth in Algeria to assess their views of Sufism and Salafism and governmental policy towards religion in Algeria. In this survey that included more than 2000 respondents from all regions of the country, an analysis of the data obtained reveals mass disillusionment among youth with both political parties and religious institutions in the country. This widespread disenchantment may explain why we have not observed high levels of social mobilisation in Algeria in the wake of the 2011 revolutions and revolts known as the ‘Arab Spring’. Our survey reveals that Algerian youth see Sufi organisations as oriented towards peaceful change, yet they also see Sufis as practitioners of unacceptable religious practices (bidaa). The majority of respondents also believe that the governments support of Sufi orders involves a political effort to increase the ruling partys chances of electoral success while deflecting Salafist critiques of government.

Survey on Moroccan Youth: Perception and Participation in Sufi Orders/Evaluation and Interpretation

During 2010 the authors conducted a public opinion survey of youth involving 1,054 respondents in Morocco. The survey focused on questions of identity and religious affiliation. It revealed a statistically significant shift in positive affiliation with Sufism among the randomly selected respondents. The findings reveal that among Moroccan youth the adoption of Sufisms goals of moderation, introspection, spirituality, and mutual respect may be increasing while support for violent jihadism is waning.

Islamic Law, Muslim-Christian Relations, and the Transition to Democracy in Nigeria's Fourth Republic

As clashes earlier this year in Jos, Nigerias tenth most populous city, underscored, Muslim-Christian conflict is episodic in the West African country. The full-scale reintroduction of Islamic law in Northern Nigeria that began in January 2000 and shifting demographics within the country lie at the heart of the tensions. Despite these challenges, attempts have been made by leading intellectuals and religious figures to create an effective middle ground in Nigeria. In the final analysis, however, an essential question remains: Will Nigerias Fourth Republic survive? In pursuit of an answer, this article analyzes interreligious collaboration and conflict within Nigeria, especially in the “Middle Belt” with its cities of Kaduna and Jos, focusing on the relationship between the state and religions in Nigeria; the possible use of federalism to resolve Muslim-Christian disputes; the capacity of the judiciary to resolve religious conflict; and the prognosis for the very survivability of the Nigerian state.

Euro-American foreign policy, the fall of the Qaddafi regime, and the consequences for migration

ABSTRACT This essay examines the Euro-American foreign policy process that led to NATO’s aerial intervention in Libya. It also assesses the emergence of the international norm of the right-to-protect civilians (R2P) and its application in Libya. Lastly, it examines new migratory patterns that have emerged in the wake of the fall of the Qaddafi regime. Because of NATO’s intervention and the demise of the Qaddafi regime, Libya has emerged as a hub of instability, with security repercussions for North Africa, the Sahel, the Levant, and Europe.

A Review of: “Trans-Saharan Africa in World History. By Ralph A. Austen.”

Ralph A. Austen has written a highly accessible book on the role played by trans-Sahara—the region comprising the region of North Africa and the Sahel—in world history. Unlike many historians whose lens of understanding and interpretation is primarily defined by European colonialism and its effects upon Africa, Austen, an economic historian and professor emeritus of African history at the University of Chicago, uses a different perspective and explains that North Africa and the Sahel should be understood as a coherent region. For him and other economic historians, the Sahara is a highway for the interchange of goods, ideas, and religion between North Africa and the Sahel rather than a barrier between regions. Austen’s adept discussions of commerce, governance, religion, culture, and colonialism within the trans-Saharan region make this volume worth reading. This comparatively short book has six chapters. The first chapter introduces the Sahara as a ‘‘global highway’’ in world history. The second and the third chapters deal with questions of commerce and governance. The fourth and fifth chapters consider questions of religion and Islamic culture. The last chapter reviews European colonialism and its impact upon the region. Within the first chapter, Austen plays the role of geographical historian and substantiates one of his principal themes: that North Africa and the Sahel should be viewed as an integral region. Austen explains that, although there may be differences in ethnicity, topography, aridity and soil fertility, and cultural practices across the region, from the seventh century until the triumph of European colonialism during the nineteenth century there was an extensive trading network that traversed the Sahara, linking the Sahel to North Africa (and both to Mediterranean networks of commerce and culture). Austen explains the origin of this trading network and its development across time. The early part of this chapter is particularly strong in explaining the

The Havana Afrocubano Movement and the Harlem Renaissance

FROM THE WRITINGS OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND TONI MORRISON IN North America to those of Jose Marti and Carlos Moore in Cuba, intellectuals and writers in the Americas have played a role in creating political and social identities for the descendants of Africans in this hemisphere. From the 1920s through the 1940s, parallel intellectual movements took place in New York and Havana that attempted to find voice and identity for the descendants of Africans in the United States and Cuba. The Afrocubano movement in Havana not only found a voice for Africans in Cuba but also redefined the definition of what it meant to be Cuban, making it difficult for Cubans to assert Cuban national identity without embracing both European and African cultures. In contrast, New York’s Harlem Renaissance embarked on a different intellectual project. Rather than redefining American national identity, the movement constructed an African American identity within American and European culture so that African American culture would become admirable and comparable to Anglo American culture. In the process Harlem Renaissance writers created a culture that was ennobled but also one that would parallel Anglo-American culture rather than fundamentally change the dominant discourse in the decades to come. Writers of the Negritude movement (Aime Cesaire and Leopold Senghor, principally) did the same for Africans in Europe